Lady Indians tie for NCCAC title with win

LINCOLN – The McCook Community College women earned a share of the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference title with a 65-52 win over Southeast Community College.

MCC finishes the conference schedule with a 5-1 mark, tied with North Platte. The two teams split their series with both teams winning on their home court.

"I thought we came out in the first half and set the tone early," said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett.

Sophomore Suzan Sisman (Aarhus, Denmark) set the pace, scoring MCC's first six points of the game helping the Lady Indians to a 17-7 lead after 10 minutes.

"Sue came out and had three offensive rebounds in the first quarter and scored our first six points and I thought that really helped us," said Pritchett.

MCC duplicated its first-quarter effort on the scoreboard in the second quarter and led 34-20 at the half. After the Bobcats outscored MCC 12-11 in the third period, the Lady Indians opened up their largest lead of the game 64-43 in the fourth period.

"We got the shots we wanted and defended well," said Pritchett. "They zoned us in the second half, and we went into passive mode. That we will have to fix."

MCC shot 41.5 percent from the field, made seven of 22 shots from the arc (31.8 percent), and made four of nine free throws (44.4 percent).

"We have to work on getting back to knocking down free throws," said Pritchett. "The past three games we haven't been as focused. Something we will talk about and fix this week."

Southeast shot 35.7 percent from the field, made one of 17 from distance (5.8 percent) and went 11-for-21 from the line (52.4 percent).

Gemma Gruettner Bacoul (Berlin, Germany) led MCC with 17 points and had seven rebounds. Sisman finished with 11 points and tied for team-high rebounds with nine.

Noa Iglesias Chorda (Barcelona, Spain) had nine rebounds and eight points. Rebecca Dunn (Colorado Springs, Colo.) scored nine points and snagged seven rebounds. Carlota Aliaga Alonso (Valencia, Spain) scored nine points with three boards and Audra Vine (Thornton, Colo.) had seven rebounds along with three points.

"We got balanced scoring and rebounding," said Pritchett.

Southeast goes to 0-5 in the Nebraska conference and 7-20 overall.

MCC finishes 5-1 in the NCCAC and improves to 15-13 overall.

The Lady Indians wrap up the regular season at home Friday and Saturday with a pair of Region IX South games. MCC hosts Trinidad State at 5:30 p.m. Friday then takes on Otero Junior College Saturday at 2 p.m. Five sophomores will be honored prior to the Saturday game.

Trinidad State is 0-8 in the Region IX South (0-24 overall), while Otero is 7-2 (11-16) and one-half game out of first place behind Northeastern Junior College

Western Nebraska is 5-3 in third place while MCC is 3-5 and in fourth place in the region standings. Lamar is fifth at 2-5 with three games remaining.